


The Past is Screaming

by AvengTris



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Implied Relationships, Red Room
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-14
Updated: 2015-03-14
Packaged: 2018-03-17 18:41:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3539951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AvengTris/pseuds/AvengTris
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Natasha takes a painful trip down memory lane when she is hit in the head with magic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Past is Screaming

There was no outside light in the room that Natasha was in. She was too far into the building, there were no windows. Too many walls blocked the natural light. The electricity had been cut off. It didn’t stop the sounds of the battle going on though. The Hulk’s war shook dust from the ceiling. Tony’s repulsors shook the ground as they exploded. They were farther off than they sounded, fighting someone or something. The sky above growled and snapped as Thor fought alongside Steve against the guy with hummingbird wings for legs. They were just outside the building.

         Natasha alone wasn’t fighting. She had slipped in the shadows, venturing away from the chaos. She knew that Clint had followed her, had gone around to canvas the area to make sure it was clear. The idiot. He was always trying to protect her when he was the one who needed protecting. Maybe if he got possessed again he would figure it out. Natasha paused and looked around. The miniature battles were simply distractions. There was something else. And she had a feeling it was in here. Or was it? This house was abandoned. Suddenly there was an amplified screaming and yelling that sounded like a great big two-year-old. Natasha gripped the wall to keep steady. Hulk was a very big, green, two-year-old.

         That’s when she realized that she wasn’t alone. Someone was coming up behind her. And it wasn’t Clint, because he would’ve said something. Natasha ducked as something red flashed by her and crashed into the wall. She threw a Bite in the general direction of where it came from. Her attacker – a brunette in a skirt – dodged it. Natasha’s suit was buzzing with energy, blue filling the dark space. She launched forward, snapping her leg to land a blow in the other woman’s gut. She doubled over and Natasha spun to deliver a roundhouse kick.

         The woman hit the ground but instead of being stunned, she swung her legs to wipe out Natasha’s own. She landed hard on her back. Immediately, she brought her knees to her chest and kicked the other woman as she tried to stand. The latter flew backwards. Natasha jumped to her feet. She launched forward again. The brunette shot another flash of red – not from some weapon – but from her hands. Natasha dived and threw another Bite.

         A loud crash caught Natasha’s attention. Steve landed heavily amongst the debris of the wall he crashed through. Hummingbird Man stood over him. Natasha twisted and released a Bite. It caught his hand. He cried out, stumbling back and quickly getting it off of him. Natasha turned to face the brunette. She wasn’t expecting the slap. Or the punch. Before she could recover, a red bolt snapped against her head.

         “Nat!”

 

_She was standing in an awfully familiar room. She turned, looking around. Her heart constricted in her chest as it clicked. Why was she here? What was going on? This room. This…life. She had pushed it to the back of her mind. She had shoved it as far away from the present as possible. She had run away from this part of her life. It had been buried the moment she looked down the tip of that arrow. Clint. Where was he? He could help her. He could get her out of here._

“Nat!” Clint lunged forward towards where the red head stood frozen. Her eyes glowed red. Her expression was vacant. The girl in the skirt stood next to her, her eyes focused and fierce as she put a hand on Natasha’s red hair. Her fingers slowly danced. Clint wanted to break each one of those fingers. That hand. That arm. Her neck.

         But the white-haired guy knocked Clint off his feet before he could even get close.

_The door opened. Natasha spun to watch a dozen young girls walk in. They were wearing leotards, tights, and ballet flats. Their hair was pulled sharply into a bun. Small bodies were thin, yet curved with muscle. Faces were pale and clean of makeup. They looked like any regular group of girls in a ballet class. But there were signs that they weren’t regular. Knuckles bruised. Casts. Stitches and bandages. Other bruises. A black eye here and there, a split lip in other places. There was no joy in any of the girls’ eyes. They were not vacant either. Simply haunted. Haunted with age and experiences beyond their years. Experiences that no one should ever have to endure._

_Natasha flinched when one of the girls walked through the crowd. She was the only girl that had no bruises. No wounds. It was her. Little Natalia. Nine years old and the best of all the girls._

 

Steve stumbled to his feet. His jaw throbbed. He could taste the salty tang of blood on his tongue. He felt like he should be missing a few teeth, or his jaw was dislocated. Or worse, it was broken. But the pain was nothing compared to looking up and seeing Natasha. Her expression was vacant, but her entire body was tense and shaking from the force of trying to escape whatever was going on inside her mind. Her glowing red eyes seemed to scream that whatever she was seeing was something horrible.

         Rage snarled his face. He tightened his grip on his shield before throwing it. The quick, running man leaped and knocked it away before it could hit the woman standing next to Natasha. An arrow whistled through the air but it too was parried. Steve lunged forward with Clint beside him, he wished now that he hadn’t told Thor to go help Hulk and Tony. They could’ve used his strength and power against these two. Before Clint and Steve could reach the two women, they were flung backwards by the mere force of the man running into them. They landed heavily on their backs with grunts. Steve grinded his teeth which sent agony tearing into his head. He was a “super soldier”. Clint was a spy. And yet they couldn’t reach Nat.

 

_Young Natalia stood away from the group of girls. She was one of them, and yet she wasn’t. An adult female walked in and snapped her hands, speaking rapidly in Russian. The other girls quickly made their way to the center of the room. Natalia made as to follow but she was halted when a hand grabbed her arm. Natasha flinched._

_Ivan._

_The man knelt before the little red head. He told her softly in Russian that she was such a good girl. So talented. And little Natalia nodded obediently. Ivan told her that she was advancing faster than everyone else. Because of that, he was bringing someone in to accelerate her training even further. An asset who was treasured and feared by all the agencies. Ivan told her that she could learn from him. And one day, she would be better than him._

_Little Natalia said okay. The door opened again. Natasha nearly fell when she saw whom it was._

_The Winter Soldier._

_James._

_Bucky Barnes._

“NATASHA!” Clint hollered, smacking the white-haired guy across the face with his bow.

         The man’s face twisted in rage. He grabbed the bow before Clint could even blink and snapped it. A second later Clint was slapped. A shield cut through the air and despite the fact that it got closer to the lady in skirt, the guy once again knocked it away. Steve used to distraction to launch forward but was thrown backwards as his own shield collided against his gut. A massive explosion sent a wall through, shattering windows and knocking everyone off balance. Natasha simply rocked back onto her heels, her expression not changing.

 

_Natasha was hyperventilating. No. This couldn’t be real. It just couldn’t. She didn’t remember this. It couldn’t have happened. The Winter Soldier. He was Hydra. She was a black widow._ The _Black Widow. She would’ve remembered._

_And yet, she recognized his accent as he spoke softly to young Natalia. He had an American accent that slurred his Russian. She remembered training. Not who it was, but the training. It had been intense and fierce. It had hardened her rapidly. It had made her ruthless because her teacher was ruthless. She had remembered constant pain, pain that had shaped her in her youth. Pain that had followed her into her teen and adult years. But a warm hand, and a cold one that trailed down her bare back had soothed the pain there._

_Natasha choked on the air around her. Shaking her head and gripping it. It felt like a knife was digging into her very skull. It felt like someone was stabbing her in the head repeatedly. Her vision was blurry as tears pierced her eyes. She could barely see her younger self-greeting James. James._

James.

_The other girls were going through a graceful, yet complicated, and intense routine of ballet to warm up. Natasha’s head throbbed. She wanted to scream. Widow and Winter circled one another. Nine-year-old Natalia couldn’t match the brute force that the Winter Soldier was. But no matter how many times she was knocked down, she kept getting back up. Natasha remembered this. She remembered._

_Her head split open. She collapsed. She couldn’t handle this. She just couldn’t._

_Natasha began to scream._

 

With a gasp, the brunette staggered backwards. Natasha moved in a sudden flurry of action. Her vacant face flushed with anger. Her limbs cut through the air, her body twisting. The woman was out before she hit the ground. Hummingbird Man saw her fall and released a cry, racing forward. But Natasha matched him blow for blow. He hit the ground and she kicked him in the head. He finally fell still.

         Natasha stood there, panting. Her body was tense and sweat, muscles quivering. Hulk’s roar broke her from her trance. She looked over at Steve and Clint who were staring stupidly at her. She motioned towards the sounds of battle, “Let’s go.”

         Before following her out, Steve glanced at the two unconscious bodies before looking at Clint, “I guess it’s a good thing Loki chose you to be his puppet.”

         Clint nodded, eyes wide, “Yeah, else we’d be dead and Loki would be king.” Then he nodded, “Right there shows you that he shouldn’t be king. He’s too stupid.”

         “I agree with you on that,” and together the two chased after Natasha.

**Author's Note:**

> When I saw the new Avengers trailer and that red magic sneaking into Natasha's mind and changing her eyes, I instantly thought of this. We saw the ballerina's in the first trailer and Natasha standing in an empty room. I don't know, I just connected them. I'm more than likely wrong, but hey. This was fun to write.


End file.
